The leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest Islamic group in the Arab world, on Thursday appealed to all Iraqis - Sunni and Shi'ite, secular and observant - to stop "painting Iraq with blood" and unite.
In a statement, Mohammed Mahdi Akef also called on US President George W. Bush to pull his troops out of Iraq and told Iraqis to get rid of their "oppressive aggressor."
"Those raising the banner of jihad against the occupier did not provide our countries with anything other than bad things and division," Akef said in his statement.
"To all (Iraqis), whatever their political, sectarian and ethnic color, we address their minds, their hearts that beat with monotheism, and we put in front of them the bloody reality that is reshaping the map of Iraq with body parts and painting it with blood," he said.